Marauders: Year One
by Ludachris
Summary: The beginning of a -- hopefully -- ongoing series. This story will depict the first year for our loving Marauders Remus J. Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter. Not to mention their fellow students such as Severus Snape and Lily Evans.
1. Chapter One

Author's Notes: Well, I can already tell I'm going to have fun with this story. Hopefully this will become an ongoing series, each story being a different year of the Marauders' time at Hogwarts. Anyway, the friendships might take a few chapters to develop -- but that's expected, right? Anyway, please read and review and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism and compliments welcome! Oh, yes, by the way...Harry Potter and all other characters are copyrighted to J.K. Rowling. Later on in the story, I might introduce a character created by a friend -- not sure. Enjoy!  
  
Chapter One  
  
With a screech, the Hogwarts express came to a rather abrupt halt, signifying that the train had finally reached it's destination -- Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Doors swished open, so that the mobs of students could move from the train, all adorned in their typical school robes. Many of the returning students wore badges upon their robes, notifying those of their houses in which they had previously been sorted. However, there was a good bit of younger-looking children whom were void of any badges.  
  
"Firs' years over 'ere! This way! C'mon, now, we haven't got all day!" The booming voice of a rather large man would echo throughout the darkened grounds, the silhouette of a large man waving the younger students over to the edge of a large lake that glimmered from the reflection of the stars in the sky above. The group of timid-looking first years approached the large man, some fearfully and others gazing in awe.  
  
Among this group stood a rather scrawny looking boy, dark locks of hair askew and hanging in front of his face. Eyes were framed by a pair of circular glasses, which held the reflection of the large man ahead in their lenses.  
  
"That's Hogwarts, then," the young boy stated, his eyes now gazing intently at the large castle on the opposite end of the lake.  
  
"Yep. That's 'Ogwarts, a'righ'. An' I'm Hagrid. I'm the Gameskeeper here at 'Ogwarts, so yer gonna' be seein' quite a bit o' me 'round here," the large man responded with a nod, taking a pause before he'd continue on, "Now, we're gonna' get on these here boats and row 'cross the lake ter the other side. Once we're there, yer gonna' drop off yer stuff in the main hall an' it'll all be taken up ter yer rooms. Professor McGonagall is gonna take you ter the Great Hall where you'll be sorted inter yer houses. Now.everyone ready? Righ', let's go."  
  
Following Rubeus Hagrid's orders, they all clambered into the array of boats and began their trip across the lake. It took a good ten to fifteen minutes to reach the other side. Once there, they climbed out with their luggage and made for their way up to the castle.  
  
*  
  
They had long since reached the castle and dropped off their things. Now, the first years were moving silently into the Great Hall in a single-file line, all eyes on them. The older students, whom had been talking before their arrival, fell silent. One by one, they moved over to the front of the hall -- where there sat a raggedy-looking wizard's hat. The young boy from earlier stood grinning at the hat, quickly turning to a young man behind him.  
  
"That's the Sorting Hat, you know. It's going to sort us into our houses," he spoke, giving an affirmative nod to the boy with the auburn hair that was spliced with a dash of silver.  
  
"Yes. I know. I'm Remus, by the way. Remus J. Lupin. And you are?" He quizzically arched a single eyebrow to the young man before him, offering a smile in greeting.  
  
"James Potter," he said with a grin, "Pleasure to meet ya', mate."  
  
"Same here, James," Lupin replied, both of the young boys' attentions now turning to the Sorting Hat.  
  
A slit in the brim of the hat had opened, and a bellowing voice rang out around the Great Hall -- the sorting had now begun.  
  
*  
  
With the sorting of the first years and the beginning-of-the-year-feast behind him, James lumbered into the Gryffindor common room quite tired and full from the food. The common room was already full of students chatting with one another about their summer break. He grinned and beamed towards his new friend Remus Lupin, whom was seated by the fire on a large armchair, and moved over to him. "Hey, mate. Up for a bit of Wizard's Chess?" As he questioned him, he plopped down on the arm of one of the long couches scattered throughout the common room.  
  
"No thanks, James. I'm quite content. I'm  
actually thinking about heading up to my dorm  
right  
about now," he spoke without lifting his eyes  
from his book. James looked at the cover of the  
book,  
reading the title; which read ' Werewolves and  
their Habits. '  
  
"Interesting book?" James questioned with a  
quirked brow, shifting to fall onto his side  
upon the couch. And, without a word, Lupin had closed his book and climbed to his feet -- leaving for the stairs that led up to the dormitories with a wave over his shoulder. "..odd bloke, he is," James commented to himself before moving up the stairs as well. A good night's rest was definitely in order. 


	2. Chapter Two

Author's Notes: Well, this is the second chapter to my Marauders -- Year One story. =D! I'm really sorry about the first chapter coming out so short. I wasn't intending for it to, and, again, I'm really sorry. But this one will definitely be longer. I didn't wait for anybody to review my first chapter before I started on this one, but that's only because I wanted to get a longer chapter up -- for you guys. So, here we go.  
  
Chapter Two  
  
The sun's light beamed brightly through the parted curtains around his four- poster bed, and James' eyes fluttered opened. Almost instantly, he snatched his glasses from the end table beside his bed and placed them on his head. With a yawn, he sat up and threw his covers off -- right hand ruffling those darkened locks of hair. Gaze shifted to the bed to his left, where Remus Lupin had already left.  
  
After a moment of sitting there on his bed in silence, he climbed to his bare feet and went to changing.  
  
*  
  
The Great Hall was bustling with noise as the students lined their appropriate tables and ate their breakfast while chattering with one another. James entered the Hall, right hand once more ruffling those ebony locks to make them go astray -- styled wildly. The Gryffindor table was already packed with students, but he managed to pick Lupin out almost at once. He beamed to him, and then moved to take a seat beside him. "Mornin', Remus," James started as he began to pile a few pancakes and sausages onto his plate. "Sleep well?"  
  
"Yes, James, I did," he replied, whilst looking up at the sound of an owl hooting. Not a mere moment later did the Great Hall's ceiling become covered with various owls against the blue sky that painted the ceiling. The owls, hooting over the sound of their flapping wings, flew over the four house tables -- dropping postage along as they went. Lupin reached out and caught a copy of The Daily Prophet in his hands. Without another word, he unfolded it and began to read, after he pushed his empty plate to the side.  
  
"The Daily Prophet, eh? I prefer The Quibbler. A lot more interesting than the things the blokes at the Daily Prophet come up with," James stated, as he caught a package of his own and began to unwrap it. "Aww, look at that. Mum and dad sent me some pastries," James spoke with a grin and held one out to Remus, "D'you want one, mate?"  
  
Remus looked up from his paper and licked his lips, reaching out a hand to take one, "Thanks," he responded, giving a nod and taking a bite from the pastry. "You know, The Quibbler is complete rubbish. Everything in it is a lie," Lupin replied, matter-of-factly.  
  
"..'course it is. You didn't think I knew that? I just said it was interesting," beamed James.  
  
"Excuse me," came a voice from behind the two. When James and Remus turned around, they saw a rather handsome young man with chin-length black hair. "D'you guys mind if I join you?"  
  
James and Remus looked at one another and shrugged. "Sure, have a seat," James spoke, turning back to his food. He stabbed his fork into his sausage and took a bite out of it. "What's your name?"  
  
"Sirius Black," the boy replied. "And you?"  
  
"James Potter. And that's Remus Lupin," James introduced himself and Lupin, seeing as Lupin had once more buried his nose in his copy of The Daily Prophet.  
  
*  
  
Classes seemed to go by at a rather fast pace that day. Dinner was growing near with each passing moment, and the three new friends were found to be sitting under a large maple tree that was planted twenty to thirty feet from the large lake in front of the school. Remus was leaning back against the tree, the book from the night before opened in his lap. Sirius, however, stared rather harshly at a lanky young man at another tree -- a young boy with greasy black hair and a rather large nose, whom was reading Perfectly Potions.  
  
"See that boy over there?" Sirius piped in to break the silence and pointed towards the boy.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, yeah," James said as he turned from the girl he was looking at. The girl had shoulder-length red hair and the most brilliantly emerald eyes James had ever seen. "Who is he?"  
  
"Severus Snape," Sirius snorted before continuing, "the most annoying prat in the entire school."  
  
"He seemed nice when I talked to him," Lupin said without looking up from his book.  
  
"He probably fancies you. He seems the type," said Sirius as he grinned towards Remus.  
  
Remus shook his head and continued with his reading. James, on the other hand, pointed towards the girl he had gone back to staring at. "Who is she, Sirius?" he asked as he beamed at Sirius.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, her. That's Lily Evans. She's a muggle-born," Sirius responded with a nod.  
  
"Lily, huh? I think I'll introduce myself to her a little later," James said as he turned back to his friends. "She seems busy right now, with all her friends and all."  
  
"Right. Wouldn't want to get rejected in front of all those people," snorted Sirius, which caused Remus to chuckle to himself.  
  
*  
  
When the time for dinner had arrived, the Great Hall was once more bustling with the noise of chatting, hungry students. Sirius, James and Remus had taken a seat on the end of the Gryffindor table that was furthest from the staff table, where they were all seated tight together. All eyes were on the issue of The Daily Prophet, reading over the story on the front page about another muggle killing.  
  
"You know," Remus started as he pulled back and slapped a chicken wing onto his plate, "if you guys are so interested in The Daily Prophet, you should all subscribe."  
  
"Why would we do that?" Sirius replied, pulling back to pile some mashed potatoes on his own plate. "We can just look at yours," he said, beaming at Remus.  
  
Remus shook his head and chuckled to himself. James, on the other hand, was climbing up from his seat and brushing down his usually unruly hair with his hands.  
  
"I'll be right back, guys," he said as he began to walk along the length of the Gryffindor table. He came to a stop when he reached the spot where Lily and her friends were seated. He placed a hand on her shoulder and tapped it lightly to get her attention. "S'cuse me. Mind if I have a seat?" he asked with a grin.  
  
Lily stopped in mid-sentence and peered over her shoulder at him with a sarcastic smile on her face. "You know, I don't mind, but." she started as she turned back to her friends, "this end's full. You should go back over with your friends."  
  
".right, then," James replied with a look of defeat on his face. He sulked back over to his end of the table and plopped down next to a cackling Sirius Black.  
  
"Nice one, mate!" Sirius said between cackles.  
  
"Yes. Very nice indeed," Remus said, halting his laughs. "She's all over you, James."  
  
"Stuff it, you gits," James snapped and he dropped his head onto the table.  
  
*  
  
Dinner had long since ended, and the trio had returned to the Gryffindor tower and circled around a long table near one of the fires. They were all silent, aside from the scratching of their quills against parchment.  
  
The silence had been getting to James, so he broke it with an exasperated sigh and a drop of his quill. "Bloody hell," he exclaimed, leaning back against the couch, "you think they give us enough homework?!"  
  
"Well, it's for our own good," Remus started, finishing off his Potions homework and rolling his parchment up. "With You-Know-Who running around, we need to know how to defend ourselves. Even if Hogwarts is the safest place right now."  
  
"Voldemort will never get to us here," Sirius spoke up, stuffing his unfinished homework into his school bag, "he's too afraid of Dumbledore to come near Hogwarts."  
  
"Well what about during summer break, Sirius?" Remus said as he put away his rolled up parchment, closed up his ink bottle, and placed his ink bottle and quill into his school bag as well.  
  
"He has a point, Sirius," James snorted, "as much as I hate to admit it. Anyway, I'm going to bed. I'm tired."  
  
"Right. So'm I," Remus interrupted as he stood up with his school bag and made for the stairs.  
  
"Coming, Sirius?" James said as he, too, stood up.  
  
"Yeah," Sirius replied, standing up with his things as well, "Let's go."  
  
UPDATED AUTHOR'S NOTES: A few things were brought to my attention through reviews, and I thank you all. I'm now aware that I have changed Lily's hair color. X_x;. Well, I've fixed that now. A few other things that were brought to my attention will be changed as well, though perhaps not in this chapter but in coming chapters. Again, thank you all for your support as well as your reviews. You guys are great. 33. Oh, yes, I'm getting to work on the third chapter. Here are a few clues as to what's coming: the marauders group will come to a count of four, their first prank will be pulled, and a mysterious disappearance of one of the friends will leave the others confused! 


	3. Chapter Three

Author's Notes: Well, thanks to reviews on my second chapter, I've been able to adjust my writing to something more suitable for my readers. I'm happy to say that it seems people are enjoying my work, which makes me really happy. Anyway, I put a few hints to the third chapter in my second one after I edited some mistakes I made, and.now you'll see where those hints will lead us!  
  
Chapter Three  
  
The school week had finally come to an end, and Saturday morning had arisen. James had long since been awake, and was seated on one of the large armchairs in the Gryffindor common room. A wide grin was painted on his face as he scribbled something down on a piece of parchment. At the sounds of footsteps coming down the steps leading into the common room, he quickly rolled up his parchment, closed his ink bottle, and stuffed parchment; ink; and quill into his robes.  
  
He glanced towards the steps, catching sight of Sirius leading a group of Gryffindors down the stairs. With his grin still on his face, he climbed to his feet. "Mornin', mate," he said with a yawn. "Gettin' an early start on the day? Sun's just up!"  
  
"Looks to me like you're the one getting the early start," Sirius replied as he pushed ebony locks of hair out of his handsome face.  
  
"Well, you're right, actually. Been working on a few things," James said as he glanced about at the other students, most of whom were making their way out of the portrait hole to go get some breakfast.  
  
"Things? What kind of things?" Sirius asked with a raise of his brow.  
  
"I'll show you later," James paused, and led Sirius off towards the portrait hole. "Where's Remus at?"  
  
"Still in bed, I think," Sirius shrugged and followed James out of the portrait hole and through the halls in a path that would lead them to the Great Hall.  
  
"Oh," James stopped at a window in the hall, brown eyes staring out towards the Forbidden Forest that was on the outskirts of Hogwarts' grounds. "You know,.tonight's a full moon. And rumor is, there's werewolves out in the Forbidden Forest."  
  
"And?" Sirius questioned, leaning up against the wall to face James.  
  
"Well," James started, before stepping back from the window and beginning his trek once more, "I was thinking about sneaking out tonight.going down to the Forbidden Forest to see if the rumors are true."  
  
"You're insane!" Sirius exclaimed as he slapped James upside the back of his head. "Do you know how dangerous that is?!"  
  
"But it'd be fun! Think about it, mate! I was hoping you and Remus would come with me," he grinned, rubbing the back of his head where Sirius had hit him. "Just think about it, alright?"  
  
"How do you purpose we get down there without someone seeing us?" Sirius eyed him, shaking his head slightly.  
  
"Oh," James grinned, shoving open the doors to the Great Hall, "I have my ways. I'll show you tonight, alright, mate?"  
  
"Whatever you say," Sirius rolled his eyes and laughed to himself as they moved to their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. There, they found Remus sitting and munching away on some waffles.  
  
".how'd you get down here before us?" James questioned as he sat down and piled his own plate with food.  
  
Remus shrugged, shoving another maple syrup-drenched waffle into his mouth. His mouth was too packed to speak.  
  
"Mighty hungry, are ya', mate?" Sirius asked as he sat down opposite James and Remus and placed a single pancake and some eggs onto his plate.  
  
Remus nodded, stopping eating only at the sound of owls hooting and wings flapping. Everyone in the Hall looked up and reached out to catch their parcels of mail. As soon as Remus caught his copy of The Daily Prophet, he unrolled it and began reading. "Just as I thought," he started, swallowing the food in his mouth. "Full moon tonight."  
  
"Yeah. I was just talking to Sirius about that," James grinned, reaching out and catching his own wrapped parcel. "We're gonna' try and sneak out tonight, go to the Forbidden Forest and see if we can find some werewolves."  
  
Remus lifted his gaze from the paper, eyes wide, and stared at James, then Sirius, "That's.not a good idea, guys," he said, clearing his throat and looking back down at the newspaper. "Werewolves are very dangerous. What if they see you?"  
  
"I never said I was going, James," Sirius glared at him, taking a bite out of one of his pancakes. As usual, he received no mail, but seemed not to care. "I said I'd think about it."  
  
"They won't see me," James grinned, putting down his fork and unwrapping his package. Inside was a multicolored cloak, embroidered with what seemed to be senseless designs. "Because I've got this."  
  
".what is that?" Remus and Sirius both asked at once, staring wide-eyed at the cloak.  
  
"C'mon, I'll show ya'," James grinned and stood up. He tucked the cloak inside his robes and led the other two out of the Great Hall.  
  
*  
  
"Pumpernickel," James said to the Fat Lady portrait, which moved aside to give the three access. Once inside, they found the common room to be empty aside from a slightly pudgy-looking boy sitting by the fire, staring intently into it. The three stared at him questioningly for a moment, before moving to the other fire and sitting down around it.  
  
"Alright, guys," James said, beaming at them all. "Watch and learn." Sirius and Remus stared at him with a humored look on their faces. The look disappeared, however, when James threw the cloak around him and he disappeared entirely. "Invis --"  
  
James was cut off as he spoke by the high-pitched, squeaky voice of the boy sitting by the other fire. "How did you do that?!" he squealed, climbing to his hands and knees and crawling quickly over to them.  
  
The three fell silent, and they all glared at the squeaky boy. James' head had appeared in thin air, the cloak obviously having been lowered. "Err.it's an invisibility cloak, mate," James said with a raised brow. "Who are you?"  
  
"Oh! I'm Peter Pettigrew," he replied, sitting down between James and Sirius.  
  
"Remus," Remus stated, giving Peter a nod.  
  
"Sirius," Sirius did the same. "The floating head there is James."  
  
James beamed with a grin, and removed the cloak from his body. "So what do you say, guys? Up for the trip tonight?"  
  
"I don't know, James," Sirius said uncertainly, leaning back on his hands.  
  
"I can't," Remus piped in nervously, "I've.got homework to do. And I have a test on Monday that I have to be prepared for."  
  
"Trip? What trip?" Peter questioned anxiously, obviously wanting to fit in with the others.  
  
"We're --" he paused at glares from Sirius and Remus, "I'm planning to sneak out to the Forbidden Forest tonight and see if I can find any werewolves. I'm trying to talk them into coming, but they're chicken. What about you, Pete? You wanna' come?"  
  
"Sure! Sure thing," Peter grinned and nodded furiously. "When should I meet you, and where?"  
  
"That's what I was about to talk about," James said, setting the cloak to the side and reaching into his robe for the parchment he'd been writing on earlier in the morning. "Alright, here's the plan," he unrolled the parchment and spread it out on the floor in front of him. "Everyone who's coming, I'll give you until tonight to decide, will meet here in the common rooms at exactly eleven thirty."  
  
*  
  
The day went by excruciatingly slow that day, due to James being so anxious. However, when eleven thirty struck, and the moon was shining brightly in the sky, James was seated by the fire -- on the floor -- adding a few things to his piece of parchment. He turned and glanced to the stairs at the sounds of footsteps, grinning as he saw Sirius and Peter coming down. "Great! You decided to come! Remus coming, too?"  
  
"I don't know. He's not in his bed, so I thought he was down here," Sirius replied, shrugging his shoulders as he and Peter moved to sit next to James.  
  
"Well, he's not. Maybe he's already waiting outside?" James said, handing the parchment to Sirius and Peter so they could read over it.  
  
"How would he have gotten out, though? I mean, he doesn't have an invisibility cloak," Sirius said as he took the parchment and overviewed it, then handed it to Peter. "Does he?"  
  
"Don't think so," James shrugged, taking the parchment back from Peter and stuffing it into his robes. He held up the cloak and grinned. "Well, let's go. Maybe we'll run into him somewhere."  
  
*  
  
"Oww! Watch out, Sirius," James muttered in just above a whisper, from under the invisibility cloak, "you're stepping on my toes, you git!"  
  
"Sorry, mate, but this thing is so bloody small!" Sirius replied with a chuckle.  
  
"We're almost there, guys," James whispered as they reached the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest.  
  
"Can we take this off, then?" the squeaky voice of Peter Pettigrew whispered, as he toggled along from the back.  
  
"Yeah. I think we should be safely out of view for now," James replied, yanking the cloak off and tucking it into his robes. He stepped into the Forbidden Forest and pulled out his wand. "Lumos!" he muttered, and a light shot from his wand to illuminate a narrow path ahead of him.  
  
The others did the same, and they began their trek into the forest.  
  
"D'you think there's actually werewolves out here?" Peter asked shakily, sticking close behind Sirius.  
  
"Hopefully," James replied as he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. "I'd love to see one!"  
  
A howl echoed throughout the forests, coming from not far away, which caused the three to stop in their tracks. James grinned wildly, Peter began to shake even more furiously than he had been, and Sirius kept an emotionless façade as he glanced about.  
  
"I think you're about to get your wish, mate," said Sirius as he pushed Peter away from him. Peter had been practically clinging to him.  
  
"Guys, look!" James exclaimed, pointing his wand towards a shadowy figure that ducked into the bushes.  
  
"That.didn't look human, James," Peter said, followed closely by what seemed to be a whimper.  
  
"Toughen up, Pete," James said, stepping slowly closer to the bush. "I'm gonna' check it out."  
  
As James grew nearer to the bush, he heard sharp breaths. Ten feet away.nine.six.five. Just then, a large figure shot out from the bush and tackled James to the ground -- causing him to drop his wand, which tumbled away from him. He managed to keep his glasses on, and eyes widened at the sight of a hairy beast growling in his face.  
  
".! SIRIUS, PETER. GET 'IM OFF!" James yelled, right hand reaching for his wand.  
  
Peter was stunned. He was now on the ground, hiding behind a bush. Sirius, however, pointed his wand towards the large creature -- which was now distinguished as a werewolf. "EXPELLIARMUS!" Sirius shouted, and the light on the end of his wand went out followed by a red blast firing at the beast.  
  
With a yelp, the beast flew off of James and then ran off deeper into the forest. Sirius snatch James' wand from the ground and ran over to him. "You okay, mate?"  
  
"Y-yeah, I think so," James replied shakily as he lifted to a sitting position and stared in the direction the werewolf had run.  
  
"C-can we.p-please g-go inside n-now, g-guys?" Peter's voice came from behind the bush where he was peeking around.  
  
"Yeah. Definitely," Sirius said as he helped James to his feet. "Let's go."  
  
As they walked back to the castle under the guise of the invisibility cloak, James was muttering to himself.  
  
*  
  
"You know, it's a shame Remus missed that. I think he would have liked it," James finally said to the others, as they were slipping through the portrait hole and into the common room.  
  
"I doubt it, James," Sirius said, as he departed from the other two towards the stairs. "I'll see you two in the morning."  
  
"Yeah," James said with a yawn, following Sirius. "Later, Pete."  
  
Peter, without a goodbye, climbed the steps after the two -- his knees still shaking from the night's events. 


End file.
